“Marx vs Marx”

“Before I speak, I have something important to say”Groucho Marx

Julius Henry “Groucho” Marx (October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian and film and television star. He was known as a master of quick wit and widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators.

Karl Heinrich Marx (5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. Marx’s work in economics laid the basis for the current understanding of labour and its relation to capital, and has influenced much of subsequent economic thought.He published numerous books during his lifetime, the most notable being The Communist Manifesto (1848) and Das Kapital (1867–1894).

“History and Politics”

“History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce”.Karl Marx

“Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies”.Groucho Marx

“Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms”. Groucho Marx

“Book Writers”

“The writer must earn money in order to be able to live and to write, but he must by no means live and write for the purpose of making money”. Karl Marx

“From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it”. Groucho Marx

Groucho made 13 feature films with his siblings the Marx Brothers, of whom he was the third-born.

He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show “You Bet Your Life”.

“What is Art?”

“Art is always and everywhere the secret confession, and at the same time the immortal movement of its time”. Karl Marx

“Well, Art is Art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water. And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does. Now you tell me what you know”.Groucho Marx

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Born into a wealthy middle-class family in Trier in the Prussian Rhineland, Karl Marx studied at the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin, where he became interested in the philosophical ideas of the Young Hegelians. After his studies, he wrote for a radical newspaper in Cologne, and began to work out his theory of dialectical materialism. He moved to Paris in 1843, where he began writing for other radical newspapers and met Friedrich Engels, who would become his lifelong friend and collaborator. In 1849 he was exiled and moved to London together with his wife and children where he continued writing and formulating his theories about social and economic activity. He also campaigned for socialism and became a significant figure in the International Workingmen’s Association.

“Can I Play with Madness”

“Reason has always existed, but not always in a reasonable form”. Karl Marx

“Humor is reason gone mad”. Groucho Marx

“The miser is merely a capitalist gone mad” Karl Marx

Marx’s theories about society, economics and politics – collectively known as Marxism – hold that human societies progress through class struggle: a conflict between an ownership class that controls production and a dispossessed labouring class that provides the labour for production. He called capitalism the “dictatorship of the bourgeoisie,” believing it to be run by the wealthy classes for their own benefit; and he predicted that, like previous socioeconomic systems, capitalism produced internal tensions which would lead to its self-destruction and replacement by a new system: socialism. He argued that class antagonisms under capitalism between the bourgeoisie and proletariat would eventuate in the working class’ conquest of political power in the form of a dictatorship of the proletariat and eventually establish a classless society, socialism or communism, a society governed by a free association of producers. Along with believing in the inevitability of socialism and communism, Marx actively fought for their implementation, arguing that social theorists and underprivileged people alike should carry out organised revolutionary action to topple capitalism and bring about socio-economic change.

“Fate, Social progress and Sex”

“Social progress can be measured by the social position of the female sex”. Karl Marx

“Man does not control his own fate. The women in his life do that for him”. Groucho Marx

“I remember the first time I had sex – I kept the receipt”. Groucho Marx

“Anyone who knows anything of history knows that great social changes are impossible without feminine upheaval. Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex, the ugly ones included”. Karl Marx